Throughout the years, ice cream parlors have enjoyed far greater success at selling ice cream than have been vending machines. The reasons are simple: quality and variety. At an ice cream parlor, a customer can buy a cup of ice cream, dripping with hot fudge, sprinkled with nuts and smothered with whipped cream. From the vending machine, the customer can only buy a cup of frozen ice cream. Such vending machines are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,093,410; 2,253,482; and 2,385,465.
The prior art is aware of vending machines that serve soft ice cream. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,093 discloses a vending machine that includes a rack adapted to store empty styrofoam cups and a refrigerated box adapted to store ice cream. This vending machine removes the styrofoam cup from the rack and fills the cup with ice cream. Liquid and granular toppings are then added to the ice cream. Although it serves a parlor-quality ice cream, this vending machine has several drawbacks. For instance, soft ice cream is stored under conditions that require frequent cleaning. Such conditions result if the box is not thoroughly and regularly cleaned. Further, this vending machine can only serve a limited number of flavors of ice cream.
Mechanical failures are common with vending machines that refrigerate their products, especially with vending machines that employ motors or solenoids to dispense their products from the refrigerator. Because the motors and solenoids are located within the refrigerator, they are subjected to cold temperatures and condensates. Such harsh operating conditions increase the likelihood that the motors and solenoids will malfunction.
The large number of motors and solenoids employed in a standard vending machine also presents a drawback. Each bin in a vending machine typically has its own motor and solenoid. Each motor and solenoid adds to the manufacturing cost of the vending machine, as well as the maintenance and service costs.